1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for reacting a liquid reactant and a gaseous reactant. More particularly, it relates to a multiple stage reactor provided in a single reaction vessel. The invention incorporates several concentric baffles in a single reaction vessel to provide for multiple stage gas-liquid reactions.
The design of the apparatus of this invention is directed to controlling the pressures inherently developed in the large scale reaction of gas and liquid reactants on a continuous basis, such as in the treatment of liquid hydrocarbons with a gaseous oxidizer.
Multiple stage reactors are presently known. Such reactors (e.g., FIG. 3) are used for gas-liquid reactions, but the apparatus employed consists of a reactor fitted with flat baffles. Flat baffles are difficult to fabricate for applications where significant pressure forces will be experienced. Such baffles are inherently weaker, particularly at their joints, than more continuous baffle designs, such as cylindrical baffles. It is hard to design flat baffles of adequate strength into a system because of the difficulty in insuring that pressure forces will always act in a single direction. Finally, flat or planar baffling requires greater material mass than a comparable continuous curve baffle.
2. The Prior Art
The prior art shows several embodiments of multiple stage vessels and also embodiments of curved or cylindrical baffling, none of which are directed to the specific requirements of the field of the subject invention.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,774,210 to Perks, a distillation and separation vessel is described which has several concentric baffles. Such baffles are not designed for significant liquid pressures and they do not have direct contact with the vessel floor as is necessary for a liquid reaction vessel of the subject invention's design.
A hydrocarbon separation vessel is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,870,193 to Grahame, in which cylindrical baffles are formed off the separatory vessel floor. The baffles are not concentrically positioned within the vessel.
In Ranzenberger, U.S. Pat. No. 2,832,674, concentric baffling is utilized in a continuous reaction, induced flow reaction tank. This apparatus is directed to a single phase reaction with a spiral flowpath.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,114 to Smith et al. discloses a sewage treatment facility with concentric baffles and radial baffles. The flowpath is dissimilar to that of the subject invention.
Additional cylindrical baffling is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,061,573 to Stevens, U.S. Pat. No. 3,243,169 to Candle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,085 to Cimerol et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,669 to Aaron et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,559 to Athanassiadis.
With a view of the shortcomings and deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention is directed to a multiple stage, gas-liquid reaction vessel of improved design, which has baffles of increased strength as more fully described below.